Andi Lew is a Radio announcer / TV presenter, best-selling author and certified Food, Lifestyle and Wellness Coach who is now back to make radio waves in NSW. You may remember Andi on 101.1 TTFM which then became Mix 1010.1 before it turned to KIIS. Andi hosted the top 40 countdown before moving to host the Long KISS Goodnight.
In this article Andi looks at how to stay well through the challenges of COVID-19.
Riding the Waves of 2020
When the first wave of COVID-19 arrived we also got thrust into ’WFH’, new normals and remote learning for children, because we were forced to be locked up in lock down, relying on our technology.
During the faster internet world and full speed life, we became slower, spending even more time being sedentary.
I witnessed the health ramifications with my own son. We were living in Melbourne and in self isolation since March. Even a healthy ten-year-old had started to decline in mental health because of his inability to move and have human contact with friends.
As a health professional, I started to feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to help others. I began writing my 8th book (due out November) and moved to Sydney where I was offered a job in essential health services and permit to cross borders.
I’ve been training staff at a chain of 16 clinics called Health Space across Sydney. I’d worked for them before as I MC’d their launch in the Potts Point practice six years ago, where Tim Robards, the original Australian The Bachelor, works as a chiropractor.
So let’s look at the importance of moving well to stay well, during this remainder of restrictions.
From birth, and even in the uterus, movement is life. Movement runs the brain and literally, ‘if we don’t move it, we lose it!’ This is why god forbid, if we ever have a car accident, a physical therapist is employed and assigned to come in and move your limbs for you. The movement helps our neurology to continue functioning.
So too is movement: “life”, with nature. The wind moves the trees which then drop seeds that create new sprouts and new life force. The wind also moves the sea and allows for life to thrive under the water. Worms move soil to create a healthy biome for life to grow and thrive.
Let’s look at how we are designed to move too. Since the hunter / gatherer and Paleolithic era, we are meant to hunt, pick, pluck and gather. The movements used to do these are called Functional Movement and in fitness terms now, we call it “functional fitness”.
It’s how we are designed to move. We are meant to do pull-ups when we climb trees to pick the fruits. We will squat or deadlift the animal if we hunted it, wrestled it to the ground and then consciously shared it with our whole village without letting any part go to waste.
We squat as we pick and gather. Other functional fitness movements are anything where you’re using your whole body. We have push ups too. This is the best way to exercise. Isolation exercises are only good for about ten percent of the population who really body builders and body sculptors.
Let’s face it, who has time to exercise that way anyway? By moving your whole body, you can get a much more effective work out.
However if we aren’t functioning at our optimum, it’ll be difficult to move well. Make sure you’re having chiropractic check ups and practicing your mobility stretches and exercises so that you can move well, be well and think well.
You might even like to start squatting to eat, work and do other things and put your laptop on a chair whilst you squat to work from home? In other Asian cultures, they’re still squatting to work, birth, eat and go to the toilet. It’s not because they can’t afford toilets or chairs. It’s because our bodies are designed to move this way.
Not only is the ‘laptop life’ detrimental to our bodies but also to our eyes, sleep and hormones. The screen time is disrupting the melatonin release. This is the sleep hormone we need to feel rested and fall asleep healthily.
Taking supplements aren’t the answer. Make sure you turn off tech one hour before bed. Having a warm shower and going straight from bath to bedroom helps melatonin levels too as it warms your core.
Get earthed as much as possible. This means barefoot in nature as much as possible to negate the EMF (Electromagnetic radiation) effects. you want to be able to adapt as much as possible.
Synchronized sleep with the lunar cycle is even better. Maybe the breaky shift is the healthiest of them all, after all?
More information in my 5th book – Real Fit Food: intelligent nutrition and functional training. Or in Wellness Loading, disconnect to reconnect.
About the Author
Andi Lew is a Radio announcer / TV presenter, best-selling author and certified Food, Lifestyle and Wellness Coach.
She is available available for summer fill-ins, voiceovers or even a slot next year if you would like to make her an offer.
Contact: [email protected]
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